Solar Eclipse
by eclispe2025
Summary: Follows the story of Nick, cousin to Riley Mccabe, as he and this new girl he meets in Lilycove live there day to day lives on Quinn's Ranch. Will the two find love or will there problems from their past split them up?
1. The Start to Something Wondrous

The hero of this fic is mine but slightly tweaked. This story was originally owned by MoonWolf3000 and is related to her story best wishes and unending wish. We don't own Pokémon!

Solar Eclipse

Chapter One: The Start to Something Wondrous.

"Don't you ever feel like there's a voice in your head?"

Nick Frey growled under his breath. "Shut up, you moron," he muttered bitterly, biting his lip so he didn't cause a scene in public by screaming at himself. Hmm, maybe investing in a Bluetooth headset like Riley had suggested wouldn't be a bad idea.

He smirked as he thought of his cousin Riley McCabe. She was eccentric and amazingly accepting, as well as gorgeous despite being part of his family. Funnily enough, she was the only one in the family who had inherited Nana Marie-Terese's vibrant blood-red hair. Everyone else in the family was extremely dark, but he didn't count Riley's adopted brother Darren in that sentiment – despite being a redhead himself, Nick didn't count that loud-mouthed prick as family. Riley could keep a secret until she was six feet under but Darren? That asshole couldn't keep his big mouth shut.

"Maybe you should sew it shut for him, bro. It would make both of us exceedingly satisfied."

Nick ground his molars for what seemed like the millionth time in the past week. He wished like hell that this problem would fuck off for just a few hours, just for some peace and quiet. Then again, it probably wishes he'd fuck off when it was in control of Nick's body. It was the problem Riley had named Eclipse because the thing inside Nick would only take over during the night of a solar eclipse. Hell, Riley had been so supportive since Nick had started hearing the deep, almost demonic voice in his head two years ago before Riley set out on her Pokémon journey with her Snivy Lorne. From what he had been told when he last spoke to her on a vid-phone, Lorne was now a Serperior and she had a team of six, including a Vaporeon she had found abandoned as an Eevee. Despite being an almost-nympho around her Pokémon, Riley was the one Nick could trust most, even with Eclipse.

"You know you want to fuck her."

Nick pinched the bridge between his eyes. Sure, Riley was beautiful, but it would be like having sex with his sister, especially since they were cousins. Sometimes Nick wished Eclipse was out of his head because of how perverted that thing was.

"Dude, I'm only a pervert because that's what you are deep down and you don't want to admit it. We both know I'm the embodiment of everything you wish you weren't and suppress all of those wicked emotions. Like horniness, anger and violence. You know for a fact you want to fight someone instead of letting your Pokémon do it for you."

He was so close to shouting out in the street and making himself look like even more of a psycho. He needed to get out of the public eye to relieve some of this built up stress.

"Ouch!" Too late, he realized he had bumped into a woman hard enough to make her whimper in pain.

"Arceus, I'm so sorry," he said to her quickly, catching her before she fell from the harsh force of his shoulder hitting hers. "Are you-"

He stopped speaking as if his vocal chords had just been torn from his throat. The girl before him was utterly magnificent. She couldn't have been older than nineteen with flawless fawn-tone skin barring the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheek bones. Her hair was almost white-blond with low-lights of dark blue in the underneath parts, which made her large cerulean eyes seem that much brighter. Despite being no taller than five foot six, she had curves that would make a Gardevoir jealous and Nick knew exactly how curvy those Psychic types were, since he had Berry.

She was dressed in an outfit that made him think of the elves of bedtime stories – ripped khaki combat shorts with a wrap-around boob tube and earth-colored boots. Over the top was a loose smock, dark grey and hanging off her like Beartic skin. Something told him that she was some kind of Pokémon Breeder with the way she bore a slight scent of Pokémon food, and her pull-along trolley was filled with Pokémon food and treats, as well as evolution stones and equipment.

Her eyes seared him. "I'm fine," she said, her accent slightly different to the usual Hoenn lilt. "At least you apologize unlike most people." With a faint smile, she turned and began walking away.

It was strange. The way she moved reminded Nick of a dancer in a club when her favorite song comes on. It was as if she was dancing to a rhythm only she could hear. Her hips swayed with her gait, her long dancers' legs carrying her away from him through the crowd.

Damn it all, he had to find out what her name was!

"She won't accept you warts and all, Nicky-boy," Eclipse's snide voice took him by surprise. It had been strangely quiet during the whole triad with the girl. "She'll never believe that you don't have me in your head, controlling you for those pitifully few hours after the sun goes down and the moon rises. She'll never accept that you're abnormal."

Shut up, Nick thought back at it. Eclipse's voice was a cross between male and female, something almost robotic make to sound genderless. It made Nick think of a mannequin, something with nothing between its legs. Of course, Eclipse had no physical embodiment unless he was controlling Nick's body. It angered Nick that something as pitiful as a split personality could control him.

His legs carried him forwards, following the girl with purpose. Once again, his eyes locked on her plump backside, watching the way it moved as she sauntered towards another stall. She stopped and looked at the Pokémon eggs with a critical eye.

"Like what you see, Quinn?" the man behind the stall asked. He was easily in his fifties with a beer gut and greying hair.

From what Nick had already gathered, this girl – Quinn, the man had called her – was a regular in the market place. Quinn...It was such a masculine name for one so feminine and elegant.

Quinn smiled at the man. "How's business, Karlton? I haven't seen you with the stall out here for quite a while."

The man waved an impassive hand. "I'm not bothered with business here and you know that. So few Trainers want the eggs that are left at the day care center that we have to sell them out here. It must be breeding season for the Eevee chain – I found Elita and Starsky going at it last week and then there were about a dozen Eevee eggs hanging around."

Quinn laughed; Nick's gut knotted. Her laugh was like nothing he had ever heard before, soft and husky with a sensual yet playful edge to it. "Don't worry," she told the man. "You know I love breeding Eevee."

A youthful Flareon came around the side of the stool with a smile at Quinn. She gave the little female a cuddle whilst smiling fondly. It was the kind of smile Nick could read easily, and he could see a hint of pain in her gaze as she stroked the Flareon's creamy fur scarf. Had she lost a Flareon herself?

He could remember the day Amaterasu, his Ninetales, had gone missing as a Vulpix after a fight. She was lost in the Viridian forest for a month before Nick found her badly poisoned from when she had tried to pick berries in the territory of a bunch of nasty Beedrill. She had nearly died from the amount of toxic fluid coursing through her, but just in time he had managed to get her to the nearest Pokémon Centre.

She had woken to find him laying half on her bed, half sitting in the chair, asleep. When she had rested more, she had woken him with a somewhat gentle Fire Spin to his right arm, which was mostly numb from loss of tactile sensation. Nick's right side was a little cursed – almost all of his scars were on the right side of his body. Mostly they were burn scars from when his no-good father had set alight to the house he and his mother had lived in since he was born, killing Caroline and scarring her son. Barely five years old, Nick had been in hospital for several years, before his Aunt Rachel had taken him in. Darren had been twelve at the time and Kara, Arceus rest her soul, was getting ready to marry her fiancée Amun and Riley had been at the tender age of five. They had lived together until Kara died, which was when Nick had hit the road to make it as a Trainer, only talking to Riley because the pain of losing Kara, Amun and their unborn baby to fanatical Pokémon liberation terrorist Nicolai Fane. Those events still haunt Aunt Rachel's day to day life. The death of their first adopted child had cut Aunt Rachel and her husband Alex deeply and they had divorced out of grief.

He shook his head to clear the memories before Eclipse said something that would make him exceedingly angry. That thing liked taunting and humiliating him.

"How many Eevee eggs do you have, Karlton?" Quinn asked the man.

"We did have twenty-three but eight hatched and two Trainers took one each so we have thirteen right now," he replied, scratching his brow. "Do you think you can afford to take them off my hands?"

"I can take seven today. Do you think you could drop them off at the ranch later on? I'll be heading home in a little while. I just need to buy some berries and a new set of poffin cases before I do."

"Sure, honey child," Karlton laughed kindly. "For old times sake, I'll throw in that Riolu egg at the bottom there."

Quinn bent down and surveyed the blue and black egg with a gaze Nick couldn't see. Instead, he pulled his tan cowboy hat down to hide his dark green eyes from the sun. He didn't think he was all that good-looking and he knew that he would have no chance with a girl like her – independent, obviously intelligent, caring for Pokémon, someone who didn't match him at all. So why was he drawn to her? Was it something about the way her aura sparked enough that he could feel it on his skin instead of just sense it? He knew it wasn't her looks, despite how gorgeous she was, because he had never really liked blonds all that much.

He caught the flash of color on Quinn's inner wrist on her left hand. Four Kanji where tattooed there in block black ink, each rimmed by a different color – red, blue, green and orange. It took him a moment to figure the meanings out before he smiled. Strength, Peace, Faith and Devotion…how apt, he thought to himself, trying to shield his thoughts from Eclipse.

"Go and fuck that little whore, Nicky-boy, you know you want to. You know you can feel your body being drawn to her – I can feel it, too, remember? Screw her blind. That's all she'd be good for."

Arceus, he wished so much he could stroke her cheek just to see if it was as soft as it looked.

"So, do you like my offer?" Karlton asked Quinn, snapping Nick out of his thoughts as she rose.

"Sure," she said with a smile. "I can keep the Riolu with Reth, Niall and the other Lucario and Riolu at the ranch."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you breed more than just Eevee. I'll throw in a pair of Vulpix eggs. One of them has twins in it, I'm sure. The ultrasound on it gave off the shadows of two Vulpix pups."

"That's good," she beamed. "You know for a fact I'll take excellent care of them."

Nick watched her step away and continue on her rounds, waited a moment before going over to the stall and examining the Riolu egg Quinn had been looking at. "How much do you want for it?" he asked, preparing to pull out his wallet.

"Sorry, sir, but that one is already sold," Karlton said gently with a frown. "Is there anything else you'd like?"

He leaned towards the day care owner. "Can you tell me about that young lady you were just speaking to."

He could tell the man was about to decline but he called on Eclipse's in-built mental powers with extreme bitching from the entity while Nick worked on the manager's mind.

He raised a mental brow. 'Quinn Dubois? She's the local Pokémon Breeder. She lives on the ranch just outside of town. Mostly she breeds Eevee, Riolu, Axew, Dratini and Charmander and she's won a few awards in her short time there. She comes from Almia – moved here with her father when she was eight – and I know her from when she used to help out at the local day care, which I own,' he divulged. 'She doesn't date. She doesn't have any family left. I've never seen her out on the town getting drunk but she's friends with my twin boys, who help out on her ranch at weekends. She just took over the ranch two years ago after her father died and she's been travelling a lot.' He mentally smiled slightly. 'I think of her as a niece.'

"All I can really say is that, she is probably one of the finest breeders I town. Probably even better than me, in most respects.

Nick nodded with a sly smile. "Thank you for your time and information, sir, and I'll take one of your Eevee eggs."


	2. the Ties that Bind Us

**Chapter Two: the Ties that Bind Us**

Nick knew the ranch the day care manager had been talking about – he had seen it on his way into the city and had a quick look at the road-side paddock beside a bungalow with an intricate metal fence that complimented the baby blue exterior of the house. _Dubois_ was the name on the mailbox beside the gate so he assumed it was Quinn's ranch.

He walked through the gate and up to the door, which had a shiny gold number thirteen on it, and rapped the knocker, his new Eevee egg under one arm. Amaterasu his Ninetales looked up at him from where she sat. He smiled back moments before the door opened.

Quinn looked radiant with her hair up in a sloppy bun, a red flush in her cheeks. "Can I help you?" she asked.

He nodded. "I heard you were the local Pokémon Breeder. I bought an Eevee egg earlier today and realised I don't know how to care for an infant Pokémon. I wondered if you could help me."

She smiled. "Sure. After all, you were nice to me after bumping into me earlier today."

He frowned and glanced at Amaterasu. "I didn't think you'd recognise me."

A soft chuckle left her. "You don't get many Unovan guys in Stetsons around this area so I put two and two together." She opened the door wider and bent to catch a very young Eevee before it could escape. "No you don't, Riley," she laughed, picking up the pup. "You're not allowed out until you have your shots and you know it."

"Aww, okay," the female groaned before cuddling her breeder. "I'll go back inside and find my brothers."

Now that he looked properly, Nick noticed that Quinn's skin was a lovely shade, the colour of milky coffee. She wasn't quite mixed ethnicity but one of her parents had to have been darker in complexion. It contrasted sharply against her near-white hair and stunning blue eyes.

"It's funny," Nick blurted. "I grew up with my cousin and her name is Riley."

She laughed. "I've liked the name for a while. I think what got me started was that lovely Trainer Riley McCabe. She was on the news and I was surprised when I got an email from her asking me if I bred Eevee and either evolutions at all and if she could send me her Vaporeon for an assessment on whether or not he would be good breeding material."

"I know Osian," he chuckled warmly. "Riley McCabe is my cousin. Her Aunt Katelyn is my aunt, as was my mother Caroline."

Her eyes went wide. "Small world, isn't it?"

"_Get your ass in there and fuck that little bitch's brains out,_" Eclipse snarled. "_Let me out, Nick. I'll fuck her good and rough 'til the little slut is bloody and sore._"

He had to fight to keep from reacting. "Yeah, very small." He held up the Eevee egg. "Back to business, do you think you would be able to let me help out for a little while so I can learn how to properly raise this little one?"

"Of course," she said. "I have a spare room you could stay in, since it's a long walk back to Lilycove City."

"I'd give you some money as rent and towards food," he said, cradling the egg. "Thank you for this, ma'am."

XXX

Quinn smiled as she looked down to find the cheeky Eevee Riley pulling the leg of her jeans as she did the washing up. "Do you mind, little madam?" she asked teasingly, shaking the young one off her leg. The Eevee babies from her prized Leafeon Viridian and her friend Riley's Osian usually played around her feet when she was working in the kitchen, washing the food bowls and dinner plates.

"But we want to play with you, Auntie Quinn!" she chirped happily.

"Would you like me to distract the little ones while you do that?"

She turned at Nick's voice in the doorway, impressed with his kindness. "It's okay," she told him sweetly. "I'm used to working with little ones around. They do this almost every night because they don't get fed for another ten minutes."

He chuckled and picked up a Vulpix child his Ninetales Amaterasu had been playing with before she joined in with the Eevee kids. "No you don't, cutie," he teased her, stroking her soft, thick hair. Amaterasu rubbed against his arm happily as he hugged the extremely small Vulpix, making a noise between a growl and a purr. It was a sound a Vulpix or Ninetales made when they were well-fed and being cuddled. She obviously adored her Trainer. Not a lot of Ninetales would allow their Trainer to hug another Pokémon due to their possessive natures but Amaterasu was quite easy-going.

"Did you name your Ninetales Amaterasu for a special reason?" she said out of the blue.

He shrugged. "Not really. I just thought of it and liked the name so Amaterasu stuck. It was the same with my other Pokémon."

Amaterasu grinned. "No, you got it from some video game." She looked at Quinn. "It was the name of the protagonist from _Okami_."

She smiled. "What others do you have?"

"Kasumi is my Pidgeot. Saria is my Lilligant. Karuama is my Umbreon. Berry is my Gardevoir. Belle is my Raichu. I've had Amaterasu the longest though." He smiled fondly, tickling the Vulpix under the chin before touching the pendent he wore suspended from a leather thong. It contained a seventh Pokéball, one that not even Riley knew he had.

"I found her when I was twelve on a trip to Kanto to see Uncle Alex's side of the family. This tiny Vulpix baby, barely a few days old, found the barbeque site and tried to swipe some food. She was so little at the time. Kynaston, one of Riley's cousins, tried to make Aunt Katelyn's Zoroark eat her but I told Aunt Rachel and she stopped him and Amaterasu was placed outside the site.

She came back in and got into my lap and she sat there for the rest of the night until I tried to make her go.

"It was because of her shots wasn't it?"

"Yep, but nevertheless I felt a strong bond to her".

"Really? Well please continue."

"Well I slept outside with her. Riley and Aara, bless them both, snuck out with our sleeping bags and we made a tent on the grass using some tarp and the big picnic bench, because it started raining."

"Amaterasu kept me warm that night, the same way Vicky's Arcanine kept Riley and Aara warm, big softie that he is." He chuckled at the memory. "I think I'm closer to Riley than anyone else in the world. We're like siblings."

Quinn smiled shyly. "See, that's sweet. There aren't not many young boys who would do that, save and protect something so small like a Vulpix kit. Most boys, like Riley's cousin, would have fed her to your aunt's larger Pokémon and been done with it without a guilty conscience."

He shook his head. "I've never been like that. Kynaston always was a little shit – still is, in fact, but we don't talk about him, especially around Liz and Oberon. They disowned Seth and Reith because they're gay and then Kynaston because he was already spending his inheritance." He snorted and placed down the Vulpix as the Eevee children ran off to play in what Quinn called the Wreck Room because everything in there always got destoryed within ten minutes. "What was your first Pokémon?"

A chuckle left her and it stunned Nick to his very bones. She had such an adorable laugh and a stunning smile. "My father was a Breeder, too. Mostly he bred rarer Pokémon – mostly Unova Pokémon like Druddigon, Deino and Axew. I knew breeding Axew in his memory but Deino and Druddigon take a hell of a lot of looking after. I got a Riolu, funnily enough."

"Middle of the night back in Almia, I woke up to a scratching at the back door 'cause I had fallen asleep on the sofa. I thought it was just one of the Druddigon getting hungry – they are _so_ greedy – and it was storming out. I open the door and there are three little Riolu lying there."

"So I woke Dad and his girlfriend Lacy to help me with them. Despite being on the ranch since I was born, I still didn't have a lot of experience. I didn't know how to care for Riolu children. Lacy, however, bred Riolu and Lucario and knew the youngsters were suffering with hypothermia. We used electric blankets, hot water bottles, even the steam room to heat them up because Riolu tend to run really hot. In the end, we had to take them into our fire-proof barn and have some Druddigon heat the ground with their Dragon breath attacks and laid a blanket over it. They got toasty warm so we moved them back to the house in front of the fire. The middle one slept on the sofa with me and I named him Ash. His brother and sister were named Cloud and Seras and went with Lacy to her smaller ranch but Ash stayed with me and he's been with me ever since."

He raised a brow. "Where is he now?"

She shrugged elegantly. "He's around somewhere. He likes to patrol ranch in the evenings to see if any of the other Pokémon are laying eggs or giving birth. It's always interested me how some Pokémon lay eggs and some give birth to live young."

"For example, Eevee, Umbreon, Espeon, Jolteon and Flareon all lay eggs but Leafeon, Vaporeon and Glaceon all give birth to live young, hence the children. Eggs tend to hatch into fully-grown Pokémon." She finished off the washing up and left it on the draining board, leaning on the side. "Most Bug, Electric, Fire, Dark, Rock and Ground types tend to lay eggs. Some Water types produce spawn that live in the water until they evolve when they can move about on land but otherwise give birth to live young. Grass, Steel, Psychic, Fighting, Poison, Normal, other Water types tend to give birth to live litters, as we call them, and they then grow and stay with their mothers until they are old enough to take care of themselves."

Amaterasu canted her head to one side. "What about if I ever get pregnant?" she asked, clinging to Nick. "Will I have babies or eggs?"

Quinn smiled fondly. "You'll have a litter." She turned her attention to Nick. "Have you ever considered breeding Amaterasu with another Ninetails?"

His eyes flared. "You think she'd be a good breeding Pokémon? I've had her for a long time and to me she's always been a fighting Pokémon, not a breeding one, and I've never really considered it."

"It's perfectly normal," she replied, hanging her apron on a hook and grabbing two cans of Coke from the fridge. She handed one to him and cracked the other open for herself. "Most Trainers don't consider their Pokémon breeding material."

"Amaterasu is an extremely good specimen of a Ninetales and would make a brilliant breeding Pokémon. The only problem is that Ninetales mate for life so if any of the boys make her weak in the knees, you'll either have to leave her here or buy one of those expensive double Pokéball's that can hold two Pokémon at once." She shrugged, sipping her drink. "Of course, it also depends on the Ninetales."

"Quinn," said a voice that made Nick stand up in surprise. In the back doorway stood a very tall Lucario with flowing navy hair and sharp dark eyes that held wisdom and intelligence that rivalled Aunt Rachel's old Lucario. Blue combats were tucked into knee-high boots with buckles going all the way up the front, a pale yellow T-shirt tucked into the trousers. He also wore a blue jacket the same colour as the combats and a black bandana around his head. "Evander thinks Honeysuckle is going into labour."

She nodded and grabbed a denim jacket off the hook beside where she had placed her apron. "Tell them I'll be right there. Are they in Barn Six or Seven?"

"Seven and it doesn't look too good right now," the Lucario replied with a hint of urgency. "Honeysuckle has symptoms of birthing eggs due to Evander being an Umbreon but she's a Glaceon and usually she is supposed to birth live young."

"Alright," she said and looked at Nick. "Do you want to help a Glaceon give birth?"

"Wait!" the Lucario snapped and everyone was silent for a few moments. He sighed. "Never mind. False alarm. I swear, I could kill Evander for making me worry like that. He's asleep and dreaming."

Quinn groaned and hung the coat back up. "Dammit. When I get my hands on Evander, he is so dead," she muttered. "Go and wake him and tell him to stop being such a worry-wart. It gets him nowhere."

"I say you let me gut the fucker for being so dumb," he replied with a sneer. "That's what we Lucario do to the stupid young."

"Ash," she drawled threateningly. "If you try to gut Evander, I'll sell you to Lacy. I'm sure Cloud and Seras would love to start picking on you like they used to." Ash, the Lucario, growled and left the kitchen, closing the back door instead of slamming it like Nick expected him to. Quinn sighed at the exit. "I'm sorry about him," she said gently. "We had an accident in the jeep about a year ago that left him bedridden for two months and he's been a cranky bitch since then."

He smiled sympathetically. "If it's any consolation, Belle my Raichu is pretty cranky most of the time. She tends to do her own thing, almost all the time."

Amaterasu's stomach growled. "Sorry!" she yelped, blushing. "Wow, my belly isn't usually that loud."

Nick laughed. "I guess that's my fault. I forgot to get you guys fed at the Pokémon Center earlier." He looked at Quinn. "Do you mind if I cook up some food for my team? I'll wash up after myself, I swear."

"Oh Arceus, spare me," Amaterasu muttered, slamming her forehead against the dining table.

She nodded, a lock of near-white hair falling over her face. "I wouldn't mind cooking for your team, since from Amaterasu's reaction, you're a bad cook."

He blushed. Arceus, it had been years since he had last blushed at what a girl said to him. Even then it had been when she had given him a compliment and not slightly offended him.

"_You should slap her for that. You don't need some slut to tell you whether or not you're a good cook._"

Nick sighed softly and chuckled. "Yeah, I'm a crap cook to be honest. I could burn water." _Shut up, you idiotic thing! I'm not doing as you say. I'm not going to let you fuck this up for me. She's genuinely a lovely girl and I want to see where things go with her._

"_And what will you do when she dumps your ass in the mental ward, Nicky-boy?"_ Eclipse sneered. _"When she finds out about me, she'll freak out and fuck you off faster than you can say I-hear-voices."_

"So care to lend me a hand then?" Quinn asked just before entering the domain of ladies.

"I'd be delighted to."

"Good, wash your hands and meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes." She replied grabbing her apron from a hook on the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

After dinner, which his team had agreed was a welcome break from his inedible attempts at cooking; Nick lazed on the sofa, after helping with dinner, cradling his Eevee egg. He wondered what Eeveelution had laid the egg. Hadn't Quinn said that Umbreon, Espeon, Jolteon and Flareon all laid eggs while the others had live off-spring?

"She likes you, you know."

He looked up from the egg to find a handsome young Charmeleon there dressed in bright orange jeans, a lighter yellow T-shirt, a slightly brighter orange long-coat and orange pants. Three baby blue earrings fell from his right ear and he held a cigarette with a blue tip as opposed to the usual orange embers. The smoke was oddly pleasant-smelling, like oran and pecha berries, and surprisingly was strangely calming. From the Charmeleon's relaxed stance, it must have been some kind of Pokémon relaxant.

"Who does?" Nick replied with a frown.

The Charmeleon took a drag on the cigarette and blew it out as he spoke. "Quinn, my Trainer. I might not have been here long, but I know how to tell that she likes someone." He shrugged and picked up the ashtray to flick the end of the cigarette. "She's a weird one, I'll tell you that now, but she's got a good heart, a strong soul. I don't need to be able to sense aura like Ash and Sinclair to know for a fact that Quinn is a wonderful person. Any of her friends will tell you that she's strange but caring and loving in everything she does."

He smiled, stroking the egg's smooth, warm shell. "I can already tell that. I'm Nick, by the way."

"Cross," he replied, taking another drag. "Quinn tends to name us after characters in books or on TV shows. Except Ash – he got off lightly in that respect, surly fucker that he is."

"Cross!" Quinn snapped as she walked in. "You know I don't want you using such bad language until you evolve. You're not an adult yet." She sat on the other end of the two corner group sofas that were pushed together to form a squared C shape in the large living room.

Cross hung his head. "Sorry, Quinn."

She chuckled and allowed him to hug her knees as she slouched back. "It's okay. I'll let you off this time." She ruffled his hair and looked at Nick. "Cross is one of the older Pokémon from Barn Four, where the Charmander evolution line breeds, eats and sleeps. It's taking him a while to evolve, considering how much he fights with the other Charmeleon and a couple of the Charizard. I think it might be where he and Sinclair snuck into the Evolution Stones cupboard and accidently touched an Everstone or something."

"Sinclair?" Nick asked, wrapping up the egg in a warm towel.

"My Dragonite," she mused, smiling as she stroked Cross's hair gently; the Charmeleon was practically purring as she petted him. "He's cocky sometimes but he means well. You'll probably meet him at some point. A lot of my older Pokémon, such as Ash, my Espeon Garret, my Leafeon Viridian and my Staraptor Sawyer, patrol the paddocks and barns during the day and evenings out of choice and report any disturbances or females in labor. My two Absol Keegan and Peyton, my prize-winning Umbreon Dunstan and my Krookodile Micah take the night patrol and wake me if anything is wrong, especially if one of the Ninetales or Eeveelutions are birthing. Those two species are particularly difficult to help through births."

He frowned. "So if I ever chose to breed Amaterasu, she could have birthing difficulties?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. There's a risk with litter-birthing Pokémon that the babies can get stuck or become late. If they're late, the babies can sometimes be too big to push out and it requires a C-section to get them out and even then there's a risk the mother might not make it through the birth because most anesthetics can cause respiratory problems." She sighed softly. "I lost my Flareon because her eggs were too big to pass and there were problems with the C-section. Her name was Amber. Her eggs all got out fine as well as one tiny pup who had almost been crushed to death in the womb because the father was a Vaporeon. That little pup is now a Leafeon and a mother herself, my beautiful Viridian. She's so special to me its unreal."

"Eevee and their evolutions are you favorite, aren't they?" he mused when one of the Eevee children sat beside him and started hugging his waist. He smiled and stroked the kid's head as she started falling asleep.

"I've been around Eevee since Dad and I moved here when I was eight," she said as Cross began falling asleep with his head on her lap. "Karlton and Lisa, the daycare owners, have a lot of Eeveelutions as pets and they taught me how to take care of them. When Dad died, I considered selling the ranch to pay for my tuition fees at college and university when I was still studying to be a Breeder. You'd be surprised how much you need to know for this kind of thing." She took a sip of the hot chocolate in her hand. "So, what's your story?"

He shrugged. "I don't really have one. Mum died when I was young and I went to live with Riley and her parents in Unova. I found Amaterasu and started out as a Trainer when I was seventeen. That's about it really."

She shook her head. "You're being vague. I like details, hence why I ramble on so much."

"Well, you know how I found Amaterasu. Most of the time my team stays the same but I have a couple of others who chill at Professor Juniper's lab back in Nuvema Town. Besides Amaterasu, I think I use Berry my Gardevoir or Kasumi my Pidgeot the most. I think it's Berry's beauty that makes it easy for her to win most of the time. Either that or it's her amazing mind tricks." He laughed softly. "She can be a pest sometimes though. Once I could have sworn she had used Double Team and we'd had an orgy but it turned out, it was her playing mind games because she couldn't be bothered."

Quinn giggled like a schoolgirl and it was strangely lovely to hear such an innocent sound. With the alluring way she moved, it was hard to think that she was a virgin, but with her slightly naïve ways, it was hard to tell. "You know, I've never been in that situation. Most of my Pokémon I've had either since I was young or since they hatched." She shrugged. "The only person I've ever been with like that is my ex husband."

He raised a quizzical brow. "You're so young to have already been divorced."

"Well, technically we're still married until the divorce is finalized," she mused with a sigh. "Jamie wanted me to give up the ranch and sell the Pokémon to other Breeders so I could live with him in Sinnoh, where he was transferred for a promotion and it was putting a strain on things. He thought I wouldn't leave the ranch because I was having an affair or some stupid shit like that but I trusted him. Then I found out he'd gotten some bimbo just a little younger than me pregnant over there and I told him I wanted a divorce." She sipped her hot chocolate again, making a little sound of content when she swallowed. "It hasn't been finalized so I'm technically still Mrs. Michaels and not Miss Dubois but everyone around Lilycove knows me under Dubois anyway."

"You never properly changed your name?" he asked, frowning.

"No. Jamie believed it was because I still wanted to be single," she said and sighed again, more wistfully this time. "I hated living with him when he moved in. He did nothing to help out on the ranch, even after he talked me into firing Karlton's boys because they were around so much and he thought I was fucking them both. I hired them again and their younger brother as well when he was gone. When I think about it now, I can't think why I ever married him in the first place." She shivered despite Cross's close warmth; Nick could feel it radiating from where he sat. "I can tell my father was turning over in his grave the day I signed that damned piece of paper. He never wanted me to get married young. He said it would ruin my life and it nearly did. I almost lost the ranch and all of the Pokémon that had been born and raised here, including my precious Viridian and even Ash and Sinclair."

"But you still have them," he replied, reaching over and touching her arm. She gave him a look filled with so much innocence it stole his breath. "You didn't lose them. All you lost was an aggravation who caused you nothing but worry and suffering."

She smiled slightly. "Thank you, Nick. That means a lot to me, even if it is coming from someone I barely know." She reached up and gently stroked his hand. "Really, I'm grateful."

He gave a rare smile. "You're welcome, Quinn."

"Oh, what a slut!" Eclipse shouted in his head. "Dammit, Nicky-boy, just fuck her and leave. You're making excuses to get to know this whore when she isn't even worth it! How gullible do you have to be?!"

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, frowning as Nick tensed all over.

"Fuck her! Fuck her 'til she's sore and bleeding!"

"Nick?"

Her voice saying his name…It was like magic, the way Eclipse instantly shut up and stopped provoking him. Was there something special about Quinn that stopped his problems?

"I'm fine," he murmured, releasing her arm. "I'm sorry. I have these strange turns sometimes."

She quirked a smile. "It's not a problem. Karlton's wife Lisa is bi-polar and has schizophrenia so I have dealt with a lot worse when I'm helping at the day care during breeding season. With me, it's best to let any medical and mental conditions known so I know how to react instead of panicking."

He bit his lower lip, becoming wary of the way Quinn's eyes locked onto the nervous movement. "I get these…ticks, like Tourette's syndrome but different. They make me really tense and it feels like there's something in my head telling me to do things I really don't want to do." He shrugged. "It hurts sometimes but I'm okay with it. It's just another weird part of who I am."

A chuckle left her as Cross let out a soft snore. "I think that pecha and oran berry joint made him fall asleep."

"Joint?" he frowned, looking at the crushed blunt in the ash tray. "You give your Pokémon drugs?"

"Not all of them and the one's that I do are all legal," she mused. "Cross has had trouble sleeping so I researched herbal methods I can use on the ranch for various ailments. Pecha and oran leaves mixed with dried Maractus thorns, when smoked, acts as a powerful relaxant so it helps him sleep."

"That's so strange," he said in wonderment. "What else?"

"Well, there's shed Seviper skin and Serperior venom and crushed Seadra spines that make a potent aphrodisiac when they react with boiling water. During breeding season, I let the females inhale the steam and they pick whichever male they want to breed with. It's a good way to make it easier on the guys because the females usually take a lot of warming up, especially the Haxorus girls. They're really hard and cold most of the time but they make excellent mothers."

He smiled at that thought. When he had been in Kanto with Riley and her team, her Haxorus Quinn had helped Osian, her Vaporeon, to calm a pair of Eevee twins during the early hours of the morning after they had been chased from their burrow by a swarm of irate Beedrill. Quinn had been better with the twins than Vaporeon had been with his own pre-evolution. That Haxorus would make one amazing father one day. "It reminds me of Riley in a weird way," he mused. "She has a Haxorus and apparently when they go one-on-one, he makes sure to give her at least three orgasms before fucking her."

She smiled slightly. "He seems like a lovely Pokémon," she teased before looking at the clock on the wall. "Wow, I can't believe it's already ten-thirty."

He frowned. "It's that late?"

"Yeah, apparently so," she said with a chuckle. "I should be getting to bed. I have an early start tomorrow. I like to give any of the Pokémon with aches or pains an aromatherapy massage in the mornings, and now that its breeding season the aches are going to keep coming. Plus there's the pregnancy massages I have to deal with as well."

"I can give you a hand, if you like," he offered kindly.

She smiled fondly. "Thank you for the offer. Would you mind if I put you on feeding duty for the mornings? I always end up running late for feeding time when I do the massages and aromatherapy. Everyone gets fed at around seven-thirty in the mornings, then one for lunch and eight for dinner."

He smiled. "Sure. I don't mind."

"Fucking piss-taker," Eclipse snarled nastily. "You don't take orders from her or any other woman, you fucking pussy! Pin her to the sofa and fuck her 'til she bleeding. Slash her body open and let the house run red!"

He pinched his nasal before he stood, gently laying the Eevee child down on the sofa. "I'm going to head to bed. I'll see you in the morning, Quinn."

She smiled at him as Eclipse continued to rail at him. "Good night, Nick, and thank you for helping out in advance."

"Sure, see you in the morning" he said before walking to his room and prepping for bed.


End file.
